God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

\'Why is he so strong despite being weakened?!\'

"Human, you have managed to amaze me." It is said, her voice bubbling with rage.

"Well, that\'s not good," Cain said with a small laugh as he struggled to sit up.

BANG!

CRACK!

A kick slammed into his ribs, lifting him off the burning ground. A sickening crack followed right after the kick, signifying he had broken at least, a few ribs.

Blood leaked out the sides of his mouth as he stared up at the sea of lava floating above them.

\'If she can still keep this much lava floating, then she must be holding back quite a bit.\' Although Cain\'s thoughts were muddled, he was still able to form them.

Walking over to Cain who was now covered in burns and wounds, Ignis stood over him, a complicated expression on her flawless beautiful face.

Without saying anything more, Ignis stomped on his chest once again. The force of the attack caused his eyes to roll to the back of his head. However, it wasn\'t enough to knock him out or kill him.

Gritting her teeth, Ignis turned Cain\'s crumpled body over. Suddenly, she did something unexpected...

She raised her legs and straddled him, sitting just right above his groin...

Despite not being in the best of States, Cain\'s mind spun rapidly as he didn\'t know what to do in a situation like this.

A blue magic circle immediately activated around him. This magic circle was created from the curse of Lyros, the War Goddess of Frost. In any other scenario, this curse would be a nuisance. However, in the extreme heat, this timely savior was the only thing that could keep him from losing his mind.

The timely save was enough for him to find the mental capacity to forget about the terrible heat plaguing him both internally and externally. He immediately diverted his attention to other important matters...

\'What the hell is she doing?!\' Cain stared at Ignis who sat atop him without saying anything.

\'Is she trying to go in for a bite?! Does she plan on eating me alive?! At least kill me first, goddammit!\'

A new sense of horror immediately enveloped Cain as he tried struggling. But one of the effects of the first of Lyros was that his intervals would be completely frozen once he came into direct contact with a female being. Right now most of his clothing had burned away, so his skin was able to feel the earth of a woman.

Her skin felt supple and despite being born from flames, her skin was rather warm, and not hot. Despite knowing he was at a point of certain doom, Cain couldn\'t help but enjoy this strange yet pleasant feeling.

Suddenly, the {Cherufe Spawn} leaned down...

This move of hers was as sudden as it was lethal...

The unprotected Cain could do nothing but watch helplessly as he was taken advantage of once again...

Her lips slammed onto his so fiercely, that he began to bleed a bit. However, that seemed to turn the creature on even more as she bit at his lips and drove her tongue deeper into his mouth, wriggling it around like a little snake.

This brutal assault continued for a full minute before Ignis finally decided to break it up.

Looking down at Cain, their eyes locked, numerous thoughts running through both their heads...

Cain suddenly felt a warm feeling flow through his body.

"I gave you a bit of mana and Ki. Now get up and fight me..."

He felt a bit of strength returning to his body. Since he wasn\'t able to access his own Ki, this was what he needed the most. The stream of Ki circulated his body, giving life to what had lost it.

Cain was able to feel the purity and sheer power of her Ki firsthand, making him completely certain she was holding back during their fight.

"Why... Why help me now?" Cain asked as he shakily stood up to his feet. Staring at Ignis, his expression grew complicated as he spoke.

"I don\'t know..." A smile appeared on Ignis\' face as he took a step back.

"Prepare yourself, Cain. This time, I will be going all out. For real this time..."

Staring at the complicated creature standing him, Cain had nothing to say. While she was trying to eat him, he couldn\'t help but feel some type of way about the whole situation...

"Screw this..." Cain\'s heart was filled with turmoil as he decided to end it once and for all.

The spell he had been formulating in his mind had all of a sudden fallen into place the moment his heart had entered this great turmoil.

It was like his soul was answering his distress call...

It rumbled and quaked violently, a sea of darkness within his consciousness...

"Prepare yourself, Ignis..." Cain said in a whisper.

BOOOOM!

A terrifying aura exploded out from Ignis, her hair becoming more material and the flames around her body taking in a different hue.

"This is the real me, Cain." At this moment, she has chosen to do something she would rarely get to do. She had chosen to reveal her truest form in battle.

Her aura continued to rise and rise until it was so high, that Cain couldn\'t sense it anymore...

Staring at her in shock, Cain suddenly felt something warp before his eyes. Her status screen immediately filled his vision and he noticed a few changes that caused the saliva at the back of his throat to become stuck

***

{Avatar of Cherufe}: level 40 (Half-god)

Strength: 2,500.

Agility; 3,000.

Defense: 800.

Magic: 4,000.

Spirit: 1,200.

HP: 90,000/90,000.

MP: 40,000/120,000.

Skills: Raging Flames, Lava Manipulation, Hell Shift, Burning Ocean, Inferno Fist Barrage, Destroyer\'s Flame, Godly Transformation.

***

Taking a deep breath, Cain could feel the heat around him increase dramatically. His blood boiled within his body, cooking his alive.

However, he refused to fall, staring at Ignis, his heart and eyes burning.

\'I can\'t afford to fall here...\'

BOOOM!

In a raspy voice, he called out,

"Vampiric Star..."

A magic circle was constructed above his head, and a red dot emerged from the magic circle. It began to sin slowly, sucking the surrounding flames in aggressively.

Slowly, it picked up speed and quickly grew, transforming into a miniature sun before reaching its size limit. However, it continued absorbing the flames, its radiance increasing slowly as well.

At this point, Cain was already becoming delirious, his thoughts scrambled and his eyes already melting in their sockets. He had transformed from a handsome human to a glowing ember on the verge of death. However, because the {Vampiric Star} was sucking most of the flames around him away, the heat had reduced greatly, allowing him to slowly come back to his senses.

He eventually came back to his senses a few seconds later. But now, it seemed as though his empty eye sockets were staring at something far in the distance, causing a frown to appear on Ignis\' face.

A sigh escaped her lips as she prepared to end it all...

Her hands forming a strange hand seal, she spoke words that made even the earth beneath her tremble in fear,

"Destroyer\'s Flame..."

The violent flames that swirled all around her began to change. They went from bright red to a sinister, yet allowing purple. The flames on her head also changed to the same hue of purple.

Suddenly, both she and Cain were engulfed in a world of purple...

"These are the flames of the destroyer that will one day bring the world to an end. They possess the power to destroy everything they come in contact with, even the laws of space and time itself..."

Ignis began speaking in a strange voice, her body rising above the ground. Her eyes had also become consumed by the same purple flames, and her sense of self seemed to disappear as well...

"Nothing can stop the flames of the destroyer, not even the Golden Emperor. Soon, the entire universe will bask in the glow of this everlasting flame. Now die, mortal..."

With a wave of her hand, Ignis cast a spell that seemed to shatter the surrounding space itself,

"Burning Ocean.."

Unlike previous times, this ocean of flames was comprised of purple flames. The moment they left her body, they turned into a maelstrom that flowed in reverse. The surrounding walls of the volcano were immediately consumed. These flames spread to Cain like the waves of a tsunami came crashing down.

In a situation like this, one would expect the opponent to break down and give up. In reality, Ignis wasn\'t intending to kill him, nor was she interested in eating him anymore. She just wanted to break his spirits and body down enough so he would be able to stay with her under the volcano.

She knew the instant he got what he wanted, or he saw an opportunity, he would try to escape, and that wasn\'t what she wanted.

She had been trapped under the volcano for so long, mastering the secrets of the flames and absorbing the fire mana stored within, so it was only natural she got lonely.

She was periodically brought food by Azazel, and while she enjoyed playing with her food, they usually didn\'t last more than five hits in total. However, the human standing before her was different...

Not only had he allowed her to fight to her heart\'s content, but he had also awakened something inexplicable within her...

Hence, she was just waiting for him to finally fall to his knees so she would recall her flames before it was too late...

However, Cain had no intentions of doing that...

Instead, he was going to use the last embers of his life to make sure he died standing...

"Burn for me, Flames of Darkness!"

BOOOOMM!

It was like a bomb had gone off. A brief moment of silence before a cataclysmic roar.

Flames as dark as midnight split through the ocean of lava above his head and surged to the very top of the volcano.

"Unbelievable..." Azazel stared at the scene before him with glazed eyes, while a look of horror appeared on Alveera\'s face.

"This... This is Inlay Magic!"